This Gluten-Free Blueberry Crisp is a celebration of summer, bursting with juicy fresh blueberries and topped with a simple oats and pecan crumble. This recipe is also vegan, meaning it's our go-to dessert when we have company with varying dietary needs.
A simple crisp is the perfect dessert for anyone interested in baking, but perhaps feels a bit intimidated by more complex baking recipes. In fact, learning how to make a crisp or crumble, like our Easy Strawberry Crumble (Gluten and Dairy-Free), is an easy way to up your culinary skills. Simply mix berries with sugar, a thickening agent, a touch of fat, and then layer on a crisp topping for a perfect dessert.
This recipe works best using freshly picked summer blueberries, but you can also make it with frozen blueberries, meaning you can enjoy it all year-round. Read on and I'll also share how to make basic alterations based on you or your guests' dietary needs and restrictions.
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Ingredients that Matter
This blueberry crisp features a handful of pantry ingredients, plus a couple important fresh ingredients.
- Blueberries. Fresh blueberries work best in this recipe, but you can also use frozen. You'll need 8 cups of blueberries (about 2 ½ pounds). You can easily cut the recipe in half so you'll only need to buy a couple pints of berries.
- Lemon. Blueberries and citrus are a classic combination and this crisp includes lemon zest for floral flavor and lemon juice for some serious tang.
- Sugar. Use regular granulated sugar in the blueberry filling and the topping. The sugar emphasizes the natural sweetness of the blueberries, while the sugar also sweetens and adds texture to the topping. You can swap in brown sugar, if desired.
- Cornstarch. Use cornstarch, tapioca starch, or arrowroot starch to thicken the blueberry filling. We give a range as everyone has their personal preference when it comes to filling texture, but you'll want about 3 to 4 tablespoons to properly set the filling without making it overly gelatinous.
- Oats. The bulk of the crumble topping is made from old fashioned rolled oats. You can also use quick oats if that's what you have on hand. Be sure to use certified gluten-free oats as not all oats are actually GF.
- Gluten-Free Flour. Adding a bit of gluten-free flour to the topping helps make for a flakey crisp. Use your favorite gluten-free flour blend (or even almond flour). If you don't need to make it gluten-free, simply swap in regular all-purpose flour.
- Vegetable or Coconut Oil. Instead of using butter, this recipe uses oil to keep it vegan-friendly. Any oil will do just fine. Or you could also use melted vegan butter, instead.
- Pecans. A little chopped pecans provides a delicious nutty flavor to the topping. Swap in walnuts or almonds, if you'd prefer.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to Make an Easy Blueberry Crisp
This crisp comes together very quickly. Here's how you make it:
Stir together the oats, gluten-free flour, chopped pecans, sugar, salt and oil in a mixing bowl until well combined and crumbly.
Place blueberries in a baking dish and toss with sugar, cornstarch and salt.
Sprinkle crumble topping on blueberry mixture and level evenly.
Bake in a 375F oven until the blueberries are bubbly and the topping is golden brown, about 40 minutes.
Hint: Be sure to let the crisp cool at room temperature for at least 10 minutes, preferably up to 1 hour to allow the filling to set properly.
Substitutions
This recipe is already gluten-free and vegan. There are alterations you could further make for other dietary restrictions.
- Nuts - if you want to make this recipe nut-free, simply omit the pecans and increase the volume of rolled oats by ½ cup. You can also swap in sliced almonds or walnuts.
- Low Sugar - cut back the amount of sugar in this recipe by half if you are watching your sugar intake (that means ¼ cup of granulated sugar in the topping and 2 tablespoons in the filling).
- Sugar Alternatives - use granulated or brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, or coconut sugar.
- No Dietary Restrictions- if you have no dietary restrictions, congratulations (and stop bragging about it!), you can easily swap in regular all-purpose flour and use 6 tablespoons of melted butter instead of oil.
Variations
You can also play around with the flavoring of this dish quite easily:
- Lime - instead of using lemon zest and juice try using an equal amount of lime zest and juice for a slightly unique flavor.
- Different Nuts - most nuts will work well in the topping, including walnuts, almonds and even hazelnuts (just be sure they are well chopped). Add your favorite to the crisp recipe.
- Spices - I like the clean taste of just blueberries and lemon, but feel free to add warm spices. Boost the flavor with a big pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg, if desired.
- Herbs - you can really impress your guests by adding some fresh herbs to the blueberry filling (try adding about 1 teaspoon of fresh chopped thyme leaves, rosemary, culinary lavender or even basil).
Serve with more fresh berries on top, or a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream (dairy-free, if desired).
Equipment
It's best to make this recipe in a 2 to 2 ½-quart baking dish. We love having on hand a quality set of stoneware baking dishes, like this Le Creuset Stoneware Heritage Set or this more affordable CorningWare French White 7 Piece Ceramic Bakeware Set. You want a dish that conducts and holds heat well, is easy to clean and chip resistant.
Storage
This blueberry crisp will last if stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. We love it cold out of the fridge, but you can reheat individual portions in the oven or microwave. We caution against reheating the entire pan as you run the risk of overcooking the filling, making it gummy.
To make ahead: You can easily prep this blueberry oat crisp a day ahead by adding the berries, sugar, cornstarch and pinch of salt to the baking dish then covering and storing in the refrigerator. You can also make the crisp topping a day ahead then remove from the refrigerator and set on the counter for 30 minutes while the oven preheats.
Adam's Pro Tip
Be sure your blueberries are cleaned well before cooking. Soak them in some cold water with about 1 teaspoon of baking soda or white vinegar, then rinse well. Dry the blueberries well after washing.
FAQ
Yes! Frozen blueberries work well for most baking recipes, especially a crisp. You can add them still frozen straight to the baking dish. We recommend adding another tablespoon of cornstarch as frozen berries tend to release more liquids than fresh.
Absolutely! You can either prep out the crisp a day ahead by tossing the blueberries with sugar, cornstarch and salt and adding to the baking dish, then making the topping (be sure to store the topping separately). Store both component covered in the refrigerator and assemble when ready. Or, Bake a day ahead of time and serve cold out of the fridge or reheat in the oven just until warmed through.
Blueberry Recipes
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Recipe
Gluten-Free Blueberry Crisp
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: About 8 cups 1x
Description
This Gluten-Free Blueberry Crisp is a celebration of summer, bursting with juicy fresh blueberries topped with a simple oats and pecan crumble. This recipe is also vegan, meaning it's our go-to dessert when we have company with varying dietary needs.
Ingredients
Topping
- 1 cup old fashioned (gluten-free) rolled oats
- ½ cup gluten-free flour
- ½ cup chopped pecans (or almonds)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (or brown sugar)
- ¼ teaspoon table salt
- 6 tablespoons vegetable or coconut oil
Filling
- 8 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (about 2 ½ pounds)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (or brown sugar)
- 3-4 tablespoons cornstarch (more if you like a firmer filling)
- zest and juice of ½ lemon
- 1 pinch table salt
Instructions
Topping
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- To make the toping, stir together oats, gluten-free flour, pecans, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Drizzle in oil and toss until the mixture is well coated in oil.
Filling
- To assemble the crisp, add blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon zest and juice and salt to a 2 to 2 ½-quart baking dish and toss well to combine. Top evenly with the oats mixture then transfer to preheated oven and bake until the filling is bubbly and the topping is slightly browned, about 40 minutes. Cool at room temperature at least 10 minutes, preferably up to 1 hour, before serving.
Notes
- To clean blueberries, place in a bowl and cover with cold water and add some baking soda or white vinegar. Sit for 5 minutes, drain, rinse again and dry well before using.
- Frozen blueberries work for this recipe though we recommend upping the amount of cornstarch to at least 4 tablespoons.
- Once cooled, store the blueberry crisp in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Reheat leftovers in the microwave or 350°F oven until warm (be careful not to cook the crisp when reheating).
- To make this recipe NOT gluten-free or vegan, simply swap in regular all-purpose flour for the gluten-free flour and use melted butter instead of oil.
- Swap in walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts for the pecans if preferred.
- To make this recipe nut-free, omit the pecans and instead up the rolled oats to 1 ½ cups.
- Prep Time: 10 min.
- Cook Time: 40 min.
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Justina and John says
We made the blueberry crisp using fresh blueberries. It was so easy to make and tasted great! We used low sugar blueberry jam instead of plain sugar.
Ruth says
Love this recipe!! It's hard to stop at just one serving... so I didn't! I especially enjoyed the pecans in the topping and thought that this paired so well with the berries. Will definitely save this one as a go to for summer dinner parties.